Meet Maple; Our Oregon Goldendoodle from the Bayou
So look who recently joined us from the great state of Louisiana!
Meet Maple; she is a 10 week old medium sized Goldendoodle from Louisiana, and a hopeful mother of mini and medium Goldendoodles here at High Desert Family Doodles!
As some of our Goldendoodle moms are just reaching the age to begin breeding, it’s important for us to think ahead about our lines, and how to improve them through introducing new members to the pack.
As we’ve previously discussed, we are becoming more and more convinced to purchase our future breeding Goldendoodles and Bernedoodles from fellow GANA Breeders. We’ve had a couple troubling and disappointing experiences with breeders outside of this association, and we have also had a lot of great interactions with other GANA Breeders in our search for future Bernedoodles and Goldendoodles out here in Oregon.
This is what led us to extend out search all across the country, and inevitably led us to choosing Maple even though she was in Louisiana. Not only is Maple from another GANA breeder, her grandparents were also GANA bred Goldendoodles. Also, Maple’s sire Major is owned by our GANA mentor, Donna Schlosser of Suwanee Goldendoodles in Georgia. We’ve been exploring a way to welcoming one of his Goldendoodle puppies all the way in Oregon for at least a year.
So it felt providential that this Goldendoodle’s litter had a breeder’s spot avaiable. It was definitely worth the 10 hours of flying, 6 hours of driving, 5 hours of layovers, 3 hours of flight delays, and a couple hours of potty breaks. Maple was a great little traveler; she didn’t make a peep on either of her flights. People were surprised that I was traveling with a puppy when we deplaned because of how quiet she was!
She will finish spending this month with us after coming to Oregon at the beginning of May. We are working hard to take advantage of her early socialization window; getting her exposed to a variety of sites, studs, and people in order to help her grow into a confident Goldendoodle. We are also spending intentional time with “Manding” and crate training, along with sitting, staying, and recall. Like many Goldendoodle puppies, she is a quick learner.
It’s nonetheless surprising to watch her learn and make intentional decisions based on previous training. This learning process is always a exhilarating to watch, no matter how much we’ve seen it. They truly are wired to learn - and learn extraordinarily fast - in this period of their life.
After this month, she will join her guardian family, settling in with being a country Goldendoodle. She will be living and frolicking with some friends who live and work on an incredible nearby ranch.
As the same time, we will begin her health-screening over the next couple months. Since both of Maple’s parents were genetically clear of harmful, relevant Goldendoodle alleles, we do not need her to get genetically tested to register her with the Goldendoodle Association. However, we will do it anyways, because it’s helpful to have that information, especially when it concerns her traits, such as color genetics.
When she turns four months old, we will proceed with her hip and elbow testing, with cardiac, eye, and patella testing not that long after.
We also know a couple more of her trait characteristics. First, she is recessively brown - leading to the liver nose and hazel eyes. She also has a straight coat (-/- curl), and is fully furnished (F/F). It’s important to remember that straight coats are different from flat coats. “Straight” refers more to the texture, where the hair tends to be - well - straight. However the Goldendoodle will still be bearded, especially because Maple is fully furnished. Flat-coated Goldendoodles - on the other hand - have smoother hair around their muzzle, and tend to shed around the same amount as a full retriever.
We are looking forward to seeing the results of the rest of her color genetics, along with making sure she is indeed genetically clear.
In the coming months, we will see whether Maple passes her genetic testing along with her health screening. We are hopeful because of the health of her parentage, but there could always be something that pops up.
If she does pass her testing - fingers crossed - then we will plan to initially match her with our Oregon Multigen Goldendoodle Luca. They are very similar in size, along with known traits, which would give us consistency throughout the litter. This litter would be mini to medium sized Goldendoodle puppies. They would be fully-furnished, have a wavy parti coat and be genetically clear. However, that would be until at least late 2023.
In the meantime, we are leaning into her training and socialization. While we would hope that she can be a Goldendoodle puppy mom for our program, we want her to be able to flourish wherever she is. It’s really enjoyable to see her interact with our older Goldendoodles and Bernedoodles here in Oregon’s high desert. She already is quite confident, willing to instigate play with doodles almost five-times her size!
Follow along with us to keep tabs on Maple’s journey, and see what the future has! She is such a bright, shining star for us, and we are excited about the joy that she’ll bring into the world through her travels!
Warmly,
Erin and Jay
